


Manifest Eccentric

by KlonoaDreams



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Action/Adventure, Asexual main character, Chubby Main Character, Gen, Humor, Nonbinary Main Character, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-16 12:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9272033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KlonoaDreams/pseuds/KlonoaDreams
Summary: Strange is a word that others use to describe the newcomer to Daybreak Town. Some actually argue that "strange" is an understatement. As for the newcomer herself—she thinks nothing of it. Why should she? It's only a dream…right? SI OC





	1. Awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone and happy new year! And…well—this is kinda awkward. I know I have a lot of other stories that I need to update, but I needed to get this one off my chest. Never thought I'd go back to writing Kingdom Hearts fanfiction again (let alone actually writing an SI OC fic for it) but like…it was bound to happen eventually. I mean, for one thing, it was the Kingdom Hearts series that I first started writing fanfiction for—but that's all in the past, this is the present. And we have disclaimer to get out of the way!
> 
> **Disclaimer for the entire story: I don't own _Kingdom Hearts_ or anything related to the franchise! I am in no way Tetsuya Nomura or _Disney_ , nor will I ever be!** 
> 
> I can dream though…or just write fanfiction, because it's honestly quite fun. So yeah, let's get this story started, shall we?

_Something is wrong…_

There’s a strange sensation she feels—as though she’s falling headfirst. She is not sure at what exact speed, but it doesn’t feel bad for her, so it isn’t that fast. It feels cold and when she opens her eyes ever so slightly, she sees faint rays of light coming from above…and bubbles ( _bubbles?_ ). It’s a rather bewildering sight, but oddly comforting in some way. She doesn’t mind if it’s all she stares at for a while…but she can’t, because her eyes feel so heavy. So she closes them.

_So very, very wrong…_

She feels tired and wants nothing more than to sleep. But she can’t—something is keeping her awake. Soon, she begins to feel a pull and so she opens her eyes once more. She sees bubbles again, going upwards. She sees even more when she exhales—as though she is underwater. The more she thinks about it, the more she wonders if she _is_ underwater.

_Then how can I breathe?_

How can she see with such clarity? It’s strange and rather confusing…but she finds that she isn’t afraid. There is something calming about her current circumstances. She closes her eyes again, because it is so tiring to keep them open. That’s when she begins to hear a voice.

**_“Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light.”_ **

It’s such a calm and gentle voice, so full of warmth that it makes her feel safe instead of alarmed. It tells her a story of light…and darkness. There is something familiar about it, but what?

_I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know…_

It frustrates her…but she doesn’t feel that way for long as she continues to listen to the story she is being told.

**_“Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you.”_ **

It sounds so clichéd…but she doesn’t mind. Why should she, when she feels so secure? Even long after, when the voice finally stops speaking to her, the story having reached its end, she still feels a strong sense of security as she continues falling downwards. Falling, falling, falling…how long, she doesn’t know. She just knows that she’s falling deeper and deeper into the depths of a watery abyss. When she opens her eyes again, it’s because her center of gravity has changed. Slowly, her body turns until she is a standing position. It is at that exact moment when she finally makes contact with something. She lands on a solid surface, standing on somewhat wobbly legs.

It takes her a few seconds to regain her sense of balance. Her head is spinning with thoughts, her vision blurring for a brief moment. All it takes is a simple step and the ground beneath her suddenly lights up. She covers her face to shield her eyes from the harsh light. It almost hurts, but soon, her eyes adjust and what she sees next leaves her absolutely speechless.

Pieces of ground beneath her break off to reveal a much brighter surface that had been underneath—consisting of a colorful stained glass floor. The pieces fly into the air in a manner that seems much more animate than it should be. It takes her a few seconds to realize why when she notices that they’re birds. White-feathered doves scatter all around her as the floor beneath her continues to light up. She watches them fly off into the distance, leaving only behind white feathers that slowly drift downwards.

She continues watching them until they completely disappear into the darkness. Her heart is racing, her body shaking with excitement. The sight of birds has always made her feel uncontrollable happiness.

_That’s right…_

A smile forms on her lips as she catches a feather in her hand. It’s completely white with an almost ethereal glow to it. It’s also very soft…

**_“This is where your journey begins.”_ **

She drops the feather in shock when a voice suddenly speaks to her. Unlike the previous voice, there is not much warmth…but at the same time, it holds no animosity. It is still just as serene as the previous voice.

**_“Banisher of darkness, gatherer of light—what is your name?”_ **

She blinks a few times and takes a moment to process the question she has just been asked. It should be an easy question to answer and yet…she finds her mind going blank. Whatever it is that she thought she knew is just gone.

_Wh-Wha…?_

Her heart starts to race, her stomach churning unpleasantly. This isn’t right…

_Wrong, wrong, **wrong** …!_

Was this what she felt was wrong? It seems likely, considering how anxious she now feels.

**_“Can you remember?”_ **

“No,” she wants to say, but doesn’t. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She holds it for a few seconds and then exhales. She thinks for a moment, wracking her brain for a memory— _anything_ —to help her give an answer to the voice. It takes her a while, but soon she comes across something. She is not too certain, but it seems familiar enough for her to consider it. A minute passes and she finally has her answer.

“N-Noa,” she says, indecisively at first before repeating herself again, with much more certainty. She notices something off with her voice, but thinks nothing much of it. “It’s Noa.”

It’s not her real name…she knows that it isn’t. But it’s all she can remember and having something is better than being nameless—even if it is just a placeholder…

**_“Is that so?”_ **

She thinks for a moment…and then nods her head. “Yes.”

**_“Very well…”_ **

Noa almost shrieks when a large, rectangular object manifests itself in front of her. It stands at a height far taller than she is and is covered by a large, white sheet.

**_“Look deep inside your heart and when you are ready, pull off the sheet.”_ **

Noa looks at the sheet-covered object before her…just what is it? Curiosity tells her to pull off the sheet, but logic says she should do as she’s told. She thinks about it, despite how confused she is.

_Am I ready?_

She has no idea.

_What am I supposed to be ready for?_

She also has no idea.

_Should I?_

…

…

Noa bites her lip and grabs at the sheet. In a swift motion, she pulls off the sheet and quickly finds herself staring into a pair of chocolate brown eyes belonging to a chubby girl with dark, brown hair and tan skin. This time, she does scream—because she had not been prepared for that.

The sounds of her scream echo eerily, making her feel even more perturbed than she already is. Her heart is pounding hard within her chest that she can almost hear it. It is then, that she notices that there is something about the girl. Every movement she makes matches hers…so she reaches out. It is only when her hand touches the cool, smooth surface of glass that she realizes she is looking into a mirror.

That’s her reflection.

_Is it really?_

There is something off about her reflection, but she can’t figure out what it is just yet.

_Clothes?_

She is wearing a lemon chiffon romper with short, amber-colored sleeves and a rose-red belt around her hips. Hanging from the belt, is a pouch of the same color and on her hands, she wears fingerless cream-colored gloves. A decorative green jewel dangles from the yellow hood that she has around her neck.

_Where did I…?_

She doesn’t remember ever buying such an outfit…did she buy it?

_I don’t know…_

When did she change?

_I don’t know, I don’t know!_

Has her hair always been this long?

_I **don’t** …_

Noa bites her lip when she grabs a lock of her somewhat curly hair. It’s far too long than she’s used too—yeah, she remembers that.

_My hair is supposed to be short…_

She even remembers cutting it herself, feeling so fed up with its previous longer length. It wasn’t even that long to begin with. It’s been years since her hair had fallen past her waist. But _this_ —this is even **_longer_** than that! Why is it that her hair is so long?

_Why why why why **whywhywhy**?!”_

She doesn’t know…she just _doesn’t_ know…

**_“Is this how you see yourself?”_ **

Noa purses her lips as she continues to stare at her reflection. There is still something so wrong with what she sees. So very, very wrong…the hair, the clothes, and something else—but what?

_Hold on…_

It takes her a couple of minutes, but soon she notices that she is missing a scar on her left knee. She remembers how she got that scar—she got it when the vinyl carpet protector fell out of her hands spikes-first and scraped her left knee. She remembers the pain, too, as well as the annoyance she felt because she had to put her vacuuming on hold to clean and bandage the wound.

_What happened to it?_

She still doesn’t know…but this time, it isn’t because she can’t remember. It’s strange and almost disturbing. But what ends up disturbing her the most is when she realizes how _young_ she looks.

_How old am I?_

She looks she’s thirteen at most…but that’s not right.

_I’m not thirteen!!_

She is supposed to be much older than that—she remembers that quite clearly through the hazy memories that she has of herself drinking wine coolers. She had bought them legally, too…

Is that why her voice sounded so off?

_Y-Yeah…_

The dark circles she had under her eyes are gone, making her look far less exhausted than she should be. She knows she should be exhausted—her sleeping schedule is still so screwed up from college.

_That’s right!_

She’s supposed to be in college!

_Then why do I look like a middle-schooler?_

This is _so_ wrong!

_Wrong, wrong, wrong, **wrong**!!_

She feels sick and nauseous as she continues to look at her reflection. This is supposed to be her…but it’s not. That is **not** her body!!

_It’s not, it’s not, it’s **not**!!_

It might not feel any different, but she _knows_ it’s not hers!

_Notnotno **tnotnot**!!_

She wants to cry, her eyes feeling the familiar sting of tears. She sniffs as she wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. She tries not to cry and forces a smile…but ends up feeling even sicker to her stomach when she notices that her one of her front tooth is missing a chip. It’s the tiniest of chips, but she has always seen it whenever she brushes her teeth every day.

_What else is missing?!_

She opens her mouth to see two straight rows of pearly white teeth. They’re absolutely flawless, devoid of the silver-colored fillings she is _supposed_ to have. Her wisdom teeth aren’t poking out, but she is somewhat fine with that. Otherwise, this is still so very **wrong**.

**_“If you are uncomfortable with what you see, you are free to change your appearance as you see fit.”_ **

Noa has no idea what to say to that. She doubts she’ll be able to change everything without modifying her body, which is something she’d rather avoid. She guesses that she’ll just have to get used to it…

_Yeah…_

She doesn’t react much when the mirror disappears into a bright light. After everything, it’s the least of the strangest things that she has seen so far. If anything, it makes her feel somewhat better now that she can’t see her reflection.

**_“For now…which Union does your heart belong to?”_ **

Noa’s brows furrow. There is a sense of déjà vu that she feels from the question that is asked. It only grows stronger when she looks down to investigate the strange glow beneath her. It’s coming from the stained glass floor that she’s standing on.

“Whoa…” Her eyes light up in awe, her discomfort and nausea promptly forgotten.

With so much happening in such a short amount of time, she never did have a chance to look closely at the stained glass floor. It’s circular in shape, with a prominent ethereal glow that seems to be the only source of light around. She sees shades of blue and violet decorated with white stars. She stands upon a peculiar design of an emblem of some sort in the center of the floor. It is silver in color and possesses the shape of a heart with wings—one of feather and another resembling a batwing. It is encircled by five peculiar circles that are completely blank.

The floor is divided into five different sections, one for each blank circle. The sections vary in color, possessing different hues of a specific color. One is of red, another is of violet, a third is of brown, a fourth is of pink, and the last is of green. Without any warning, one of the circles—the one in the red section—flashes brightly.

“Ah!” Noa covers her face in her attempts to shield her eyes from the harsh light. She would have appreciated a warning beforehand…

**_“Is it the Union Unicornis that your heart belongs to?”_ **

_Uni…Unicornis?_

Noa uncovers her face once the light had died down. When she looks at the circle, she finds that it is no longer blank—it now possesses the image of a majestic white unicorn with gold eyes and silver hair. It has a horn too large to remain within completely within the circle. It is on a red background, decorated with elegant gold lines.

“Wow…” is all Noa can say with stars in her eyes.

Another circle lights up after the first one, the direction in which it occurs is that of a clockwise motion. The section it comes from is the one possessing a violet color.

**_“Or is it the Union Anguis that your heart belongs to?”_ **

When the light wanes, the circle now possesses the image of a dusky blue cobra with a white underside. Its tongue is flicked out, blue eyes staring outwards like the unicorn before it. The cobra is on a dull purple background decorated with silver lines.

_Anguis…_

There is something familiar about this… Noa doesn’t know what it is, but she feels that she recognizes what she has seen so far. It might take her some time to figure out why—if she’s fortunate enough. In the meantime, her attention turns to the next circle that flashes brightly. This time, it is the circle from the brown section that reminds Noa so much of earth—how it appears when it is dry and cracked.

What appears in place of what was blank is the picture of a yellow leopard with black spots and green eyes. It, too, has its gaze staring outwards and like the unicorn and the cobra, it also has lines decorating the background it’s on—which is dusky gray in coloration. Yellow lines are drawn around the leopard in a manner that makes it appear as though it has a mane like that of a lion’s.

**_“Maybe the Union Leopardos?”_ **

With each circle that is revealed, the feeling of familiarity grows stronger within Noa. She considers the name Leopardos, finding herself smiling at it because the name sounds so self-explanatory, like Unicornis.

It’s funny…

The next circle that lights up is the one from the pink section.

**_“Or the Union Vulpes?”_ **

On a pink and gold background, decorated with elegant white lines, is a yellow fox with green eyes. Its coloration matches that of the leopard from the Leopardos Union—just minus the spots. To Noa, it is by far the prettiest-looking of the bunch she has seen so far. It’s aesthetically pleasing to the eye and Noa wouldn’t mind staring at it over an hour or two.

The last circle that lights up is from the remaining section—the one with varying shades of green. What is revealed is yet another animal on a teal-colored background decorated with pale yellow lines. It is a brown bear with red eyes.

**_“Or is it quite possible that your heart belongs to the Union Ursus?”_ **

“I…” Noa knows that the voice is expecting an answer from her, but she doesn’t know what to do now.

**_“When you have made your decision, walk over to it to confirm it.”_ **

So that’s what she needs to do…but which of the five animals does is she going to choose?

_I don’t know…_

And why is there something so familiar about all of this? The déjà vu feels stronger than ever.

_I don’t know I don’t know…_

**_“Look deep within your heart if you are still uncertain. Close your eyes and let your heart guide you.”_ **

Noa looks all around her, considering the voice’s advice. A minute passes before she decides to do as she was told. She closes her eyes and inhales deeply. She has no idea how it is that her heart is going to guide her, but she might as well just _try_.

Waiting, waiting, waiting…she waits for a sign that might point her in the right direction. She is still uncertain about it…and decides to stop being so uncertain. That is when she hears something—the sound of a fox barking. Its bark is very faint and can be barely heard amongst the roaring of a bear and the yowling of a leopard. She also hears the quiet hissing of a snake and the loud neighing of a horse—which is what stands out the most.

_A horse?_

No…it’s not a horse.

_A unicorn…_

Noa opens her eyes and looks down at the picture of the unicorn. Something about it calls out to her, its neighing still fresh in her mind. She stares at it for a little while longer before taking a step forward. One step after another, she keeps going until she is standing on top of the unicorn. The floor beneath her begins to glow, as if accepting her confirmation.

**_“So it is the Union Unicornis that your heart belongs to…”_ **

Noa looks down at her feet for a moment and then nods her head. She still doesn’t know what had just happened—but she decides not to think too much about it. It feels right, so that is what should matter the most…right?

_Wrong._

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a patch of darkness appear on the floor like a splotch of black ink that had been spilled onto a piece of paper. It’s moving towards her, as though it’s very much alive. Her first reaction is to back away from it as fast as she can, though she quickly finds out that there’s not much use in doing so, with the way more and more splotches of ink-black darkness appears on the floors, all of which are headed towards her.

Soon, she is surrounded and the entire floor is covered in darkness. She stands on the darkness-covered floor for a few seconds and shrieks when something reaches out and tugs on her feet. Something is trying to pull her down.

_No no no no no!!_

Her heart pounds with such an intensity that she feels as though it just might burst. Beads of sweat trickle down her face as she tries her hardest to fight back. She kicks at whatever tugs at her, but to no avail—its grip is especially tight.

_Nononono **nono**!_

_Let me go, let me go, **let me go**!_

She finds that she can’t bring herself to form a coherent sentence to ask for help. All that comes out of her mouth when she opens it is a garbled mess of words. Tears prick her eyes when the darkness jumps out from below and engulfs her. Darkness is all she can see now—such terrifying darkness, devoid of any light. Inky-black tendrils grab at her from everywhere.

_Cold, cold, cold!!_

It feels _so_ **cold**.

_Scared, scared, scared!!!_

The tendrils curl tightly around her limbs, some of them reaching out to touch her face. She shudders and continues to despite how futile her attempts appear. She is on the verge of hyperventilating. She is just so scared.

_Helphelp **helphelp**!!_

Why isn’t anyone helping her?!??! Someone— **anyone**!!

_Help me!!_

Out of nowhere, help manages to come to her in the form of a bright light that repels the darkness all around her. She is far too frazzled to notice the key-like sword she now holds in her hand…that is, until the voice speaks to her yet again.

**_“The Keyblade holds the power of light—the power to drive away the darkness.”_ **

“K-Keyblade…?” Noa furrows her brow, her eyes widening when she notices the key-like sword in her right hand. The guard it possesses is of a deep indigo blue, with a dark blue handle and gold rainguard. The “blade” is a light blue metal bar with a spike and star of the same color at the end of it. Attached to the hilt by a silver chain, is a gold star. “Wh-What?”

This—something about this—seems so familiar. It seems so _very_ familiar, but Noa cannot figure out **why**. She recognizes something about it—she knows she’s seen this before, but where?! She holds it up to get a better look at it in the light and almost regrets it when it suddenly flashes brightly.

“Augh!” The light is starting to get on her nerves, with how harsh it can be on her eyes. She doesn’t complain much, since it’s what has been keeping her safe. When the light wanes, she finds herself taking a step back in fright when she sees a young man standing before her.

He appears to be in his early to mid-twenties, with light skin and long, silvery blue hair. He wears a white hooded cloak over long-sleeved shirt and a sash of the same color—each with gold embroidery—and a light blue robe. He stands at a height far taller than Noa and what stands out the most about him is the fact that he wears a white and gold unicorn mask that obscures most of his face.

He looks in her direction, his mask’s eyes staring right at her. It’s unnerving and when he takes a step towards her, she finds that she can’t feel her legs. Her body is still trembling from the fright the darkness had given her and the young man isn’t helping with her current mood.

“Please don’t hurt me!” she wants to tell him, but she can’t find her voice. She bites her lip when his hand reaches towards her face. She closes her eyes shut and prepares for the worst.

It never comes. Instead, she feels a light tap to her forehead and hears a calm and steady voice tell her, “This will protect you.”

A bright light flashes before her eyes and before she knows it, she finds herself in a new location. Her eyes take a moment to adjust to the lighting—finally, she is no longer in the dark. She can hear running water and looks around, taking in her new surroundings as she did. She is standing on steps made out of stones. There are houses all around—but it is completely empty. She inhales deeply and then exhales before moving forward.

She walks up the steps and soon finds the source of the sound she had heard—it’s a fountain at the center of the area. Her eyes light up in awe as an intense desire to run up to the fountain wells up inside of her. She almost does it…but then inky-black patch of darkness gets in her way. She almost jumps over it, but stops herself when a weird humanoid creature manifests from the darkness. It has yellow beady eyes, with a round, spherical head with twisted antennae. It had two hands, each possessing three-clawed fingers. Its body is completely black in coloration and its movements were anything but ordinary, with the way it twitched and moved its head in unnatural angles.

_What the—!!_

Tears prick the corners of her eyes when the creature suddenly lunges at her. It tries to swipe at her, but she makes use of the key-like sword that she holds in her hand. The voice called it a Keyblade…

_A Keyblade has the power to drive away the darkness…_

Whatever it really is, it’s all Noa has to defend herself. She swings it like a baseball bat, because it’s what comes most naturally to her. Her stomach churns when she sees that, despite its blunt blade, the Keyblade manages to slice the creature in two. The two halves disappear quickly into puffs of darkness, leaving behind star-like particles of light. It reminds her of the stars on the stained glass floor… She blinks a few times and reaches out to touch them. The particles of light disappear instantly under her touch and, for a few seconds, her body glows.

_What the…?_

She has no idea what had just happened, but doesn’t think too much on it. She’s not alone, after all, because more of those strange creatures begin to pop up. Her body is trembling and tears continue to well up in her eyes. She is completely terrified, but she can’t let it get to her—not when she needs to keep fighting.

She swings left and right as soon as those creatures get close to her. She manages to take down a couple of them, but not all. She cries out in pain when one of the creatures manages to successfully swipe at her arm, sharp claws raking across her skin. She clenches her teeth and forcefully brings the Keyblade down on the creature’s head.

The creature disappears in a puff of smoke, like the others before it, leaving behind star-like particles of light. All it takes is for her close proximity for the particles of light to disappear…but Noa doesn’t really care about that. She is far too concerned with the pain in her right arm. She holds her hand over it as tightly as possible, but soon realizes that she doesn’t feel any blood. When she removes her hand, she finds that the creature’s attack had not left a visible wound. She can still feel the pain, however…

_What even—wait!_

That man from earlier—what was it that he said to her?

“Th-This will pr-protect you,” Noa repeats in a shaky voice as she touches her forehead. She wants to cry…she really wants to cry. She’s so scared that she has no idea what to do. Just what is going on?

There is something she finds vaguely familiar—but what it is, she doesn’t know. All she can do is take a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself before taking another step forward towards the fountain. She reaches in the fountain to play with the water a bit, feeling an immense burst of happiness from it.

_I’m okay…I’m…okay…_

She feels okay right now. How long—she doesn’t know, but she also doesn’t care. She’s okay, and that’s all that matters. Because now, she can keep moving forward—she has to, anyways. Something—she doesn’t know what—is telling her to go in a certain direction. She takes in another deep breath and slowly breathes out as she walks towards another set of stone steps leading upwards.

She never liked stairs in any sort of form, but there isn’t any other way she has to get to where she needs to go. Nor does she have much of a choice to begin with, because as soon as she takes her first step upwards, those strange creatures appear again—right behind her.

_Shit!_

She starts to run, because the last thing she wants is to fight them on these steps. It’s such a safety hazard, never mind the fact that her life is already at stake with the fact that these creature exist. She’s already hit rock bottom, so she doesn’t want to sink any further than that—

_Oh, what’s that?_

Noa finds herself momentarily distracted by an orange and white chest that she almost passes. Logic tells her to fucking run, while her curiosity tells her to look what’s inside. It is curiosity that wins this round, so Noa decides to takes her chances with the creatures…as soon as she is off of these steps.

She’ll come back for the treasure chest, so she keeps running forward until she reaches the top of the steps. There isn’t exactly much space for her to fight with to begin with, but it is better than fighting on top on the steps. So she grips her Keyblade’s handle tightly and prepares herself for the creatures moving towards her.

There is something really awkward about the way she handles her Keyblade. The way its weight almost disrupts her sense of balance with each swing she takes. It takes a lot of effort for her not to fall over—that’s the last thing she needs. She still hasn’t figured out how to actually fight with it—all she’s really doing is treating it like a really weird baseball bat instead of the sword it’s probably supposed to be. Though, for a sword, it does have a rather blunt blade…that still manages to slice things in half.

_How the hell does that even work?_

She doesn’t know and she honestly doesn’t want to know. She’s better off letting things be as they are. She nods her head once in satisfaction when she sees the black puffs of smoke that notes the destruction of the creatures. She’s glad they’re dead—one of the little fuckers slashed her arm again. And yet, there’s still no visible wound—just pain.

It still hurts a lot, but at least it isn’t bleeding. But she is starting to sweat.

_Gross…Okay, let’s get back to that chest._

Noa wants to know what’s inside now. So she runs down the steps and stops when she reaches the chest. A wide smile crosses her face when she kneels down to open the chest…or tries to, because it doesn’t budge.

“C’mon!!” she exclaims, resisting a huge urge to hit the chest. She’s not sure if her hands or feet will appreciate the force, because hell if she knows how strong and sturdy the chest is… Wait a second… “I have a Keyblade.”

With a weapon that has “key” in its name…it should be able to unlock the chest, right?

_Well, I got nothing to lose…_

Except her life, but screw it, she’s trying to be optimistic. Noa stands up and goes about trying to look for a keyhole of any sort on the chest. Well…she sees a keyhole, but she doubts she’ll be able to use her Keyblade for it.

_So much for that…_

She sighs and shakes her head. Well, she tried…it’s better than doing nothing, she guesses. She shrugs and decides not to let it bother her, so she turns and starts to go on her way…and promptly finds herself in another battle with an even bigger group of those strange creatures—there’s more than four this time around ( _why are there so many?!_ ).

_Goddammit!_

At this point, Noa is no longer scared of these creatures…well, not as much as she was initially. She is more annoyed with them, with the way they just keep coming out of freaking nowhere. They’re not so sturdy enough to survive more than a couple of hits from her Keyblade (they never survive more than three hits—she’s been counting her swings). However, they are just strong enough to actually _hurt_ her with just _one_ attack—their claws are very sharp and though it doesn’t leave a wound, it still does hurt a whole lot. It takes her a lot longer to obliterate all the creatures this time around, with so much of her time and effort being spent on trying to maintain her balance. She manages—though just _barely_ , when the actual strain of the physical activity finally hits her.

She’s out of shape—she knows that. That’s something that she isn’t surprised about, since she remembers that part about herself. It sucks…it really sucks, because that’s the last thing she needs right now, but there’s not a damn thing she can do about on such a short notice. After she is done taking out the last of the creatures, she finds herself needing a moment to rest. She falls flat on her butt, panting heavily as beads of sweat trickle down the sides of her face and back. She has no idea how long she’ll be able to put up with this.

_But I’m alive…_

There is something reassuring about the way her heart is pounding so hard within her chest. She’s terrified, yeah…but that’s just a sign that she’s alive—she’s alive and she’ll do whatever to keep it that way.

“Pretty scary stuff, huh? But you get an A for effort.” a voice suddenly speaks out, causing Noa to jump slightly in shock. She looks around for the source and finds that it’s coming from a pudgy cat-like creature that resembles a Scottish Fold. It has blue stitching for eyes and a closer look reveals that it’s a living plush toy of some sort, with a soft pink nose and light gray fur with dark gray stripes. It wears a simple cape and carries a pink pouch around its neck. The pouch possesses a star-shaped emblem that reminds her of the particles of light that come out of the creatures she destroys. The cat-like creature stares at her, taking a moment to fidget with its pouch before saying, “You look a little confused.”

_A **little**?_

That is a complete understatement.

“Here’s what’s going on,” the cat-like creature continues. “Your pursuit of light made you the perfect candidate for a Keyblade wielder.”

“A wielder?” Noa looks at the Keyblade in her hand. Since when was she pursuing light, too? “ _What the hell is going on?”_

“It’s confusing—I know, but the darkness is spreading.” There is something ominous about the way the cat-like creature says that. “And it’s up to you to use the weapon to get rid of it, collect light, and in turn, save the world.”

_Well, **that** escalated!_

Who the hell decided to entrust her with saving the world? She can barely even remember who the hell she is…amongst other things.

“The monsters you just defeated belong to the darkness and they are called Heartless,” the cat-like creature continues their explanation without missing a beat. They know a lot more than what Noa does, so she decides to just listen to what the creature has to say. “These Heartless scour the world searching for hearts, spreading darkness as they go. The Keyblade is an effective weapon against them.”

That explains why it was so easy for her to take them down with only a few swings of her Keyblade. It still is a lot of hard work, though…she’s not used to fighting like this, with an actual weapon. Of course, there’s a first time for everything and today just seems to be a day full of firsts for her.

“I hope this is all sinking in…” The cat-like creature notices how lost Noa looks. It really is a lot to take in…but they have a job to do. “Anyway, I was assigned by a certain someone to watch over a new Keyblade wielder—you!”

“Me?” Noa tilts her head to the side.

“Yes, you…I’m Chirithy, by the way,” the cat-like creature introduces themselves. “I’ll be supporting you the whole way, teaching you everything you need to know and more. Nice to meet ya!”

A light blush tinges Noa’s cheeks as she stares at the cat-like creature named Chirithy. They’re just _so_ **adorable**!! And there is something she finds familiar about their name…but she doesn’t think much about it as her attention quickly shifts over to the stubby hand Chirithy extends towards her to shake. She reaches out and takes it into her hand, her eyes sparkling in joy when her fingertips come in contact with soft fur. She feels warmth coming from Chirithy that catches her by surprise at first. Of course, that’s probably just a sign that they are just as much alive as she is—living plush or not.

“Right now, that Keyblade is just like you—it has room to grow,” Chirithy takes their hand out of Noa’s and then hops over to her Keyblade. They tap on it a few times and in a bright light, a hard-covered book manifests into their hands. It has a plain appearance, with no particular design to it apart from being indigo in coloration. “To unleash its true power, you’ll need to use ‘fragments’—special Medals that you can set in your Keyblade from here.”

“Medals…” she simply says as she takes the book from Chirithy’s hands. She flips through the book, looking at the pages. Inside, she sees indentations on the pages encircling a star and right next to it, is a picture of the Keyblade she currently has. She sees white text written above the Keyblade that she reads out loud. “Starlight…”

_Is that the name of the Keyblade?_

She doesn’t know…but maybe Chirithy will know.

“Is that the name of this thing?” she asks, looking at the pudgy cat-like creature.

“It is—speaking of names, I told you mine but I haven’t heard yours yet.” Chirithy stares expectantly at her, waiting patiently for an answer. “You can remember it…right?”

“K-Kinda…” It’s still not her name, but… “I’m Noa.”

“I see.” Chirithy nods their head. “That’s a nice name!”

“Thank you—umm…” There’s a question she currently has, regarding Chirithy… “Are you male or female?”

Chirithy stares at her for a moment and then nods their head. “Chirithy is Chirithy—what about you?”

“Uhhh…” Noa wasn’t expecting that question from Chirithy. It catches her somewhat by surprise, but she finds that she actually has an answer for her newfound friend. “Noa is Noa.”

Yeah, that’s right—she remembers that, too!!

“It seems we’re more alike than I initially thought.” Chirithy seems amused, quietly chuckling behind their hands. “Interesting!”

“Ahaha, yeah…” Noa finds herself smiling. She feels extremely happy, which is something she appreciates after all the hell she has been through, prior to meeting Chirithy.

“Anyways!” Chirithy decides to change the subject. “What I told you—it’s a lot take in, isn’t it?”

It kind of is, considering Noa remembers only bits and pieces of what she has been told so far. Her memory has never been the best…

_Maybe that’s why I have so many blanks…_

“That being said, I’ve noticed you’ve been struggling.” Chirithy nudges her Starlight Keyblade. “You’re not used to fighting yet—so why don’t you use the Heartless here for some practice?”

Noa frowns at Chirithy. She doesn’t like the idea of fighting any more of those creatures—the Heartless. They creep her out…

“C’mon—I’ll be right by your side to help you!” Chirithy tries their best to encourage Noa. They have a lot to do today, after all. “It won’t be too bad.”

“Are you sure?” Every time a Heartless attacks her, it hurts _really_ badly. And she’s not sure if she’ll be able to fight for very long, because she is so out of shape.

“I’m sure!” Chirithy reassures her. “I’ll help you if things become too much…now are you with me?”

Chirithy holds out their hand towards her. She stares at it for a moment…and then smiles as she takes it into hers. She’s still uncertain about everything so far. And she is very much confused about everything that she finds familiar ( ** _why_** _is this so familiar?_ ). But right now, everything seems as though it’ll be okay…

_Baby steps…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've had this idea in my head for a while, since I first started playing Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ and posted up my progress on tumblr for it (my tumblr is klonoadreams and you can find my KHUX playthrough under Klonoa Plays a Game). Originally, it was just me having fun posting my reactions, but one way or another, it turned into fanfiction and the occasional doodle and then…well…THIS happened.
> 
> And so you have Manifest Eccentric, and credit goes to **kurobook** for helping me with the title! So like...let's talk about Noa a bit. Do keep in mind that she's an SI OC. And right now, she's going through a lot of memory issues. Give her some time, and she'll start to slowly connect the pieces, until then, just keep in mind that, like many of the other SI OCs I have, she's inherited a lot of my traits. For one, she's chubby, has ADHD, and is asexual (and totally not straight). She is also nonbinary and goes by she/her and they/them pronouns.
> 
> She is currently the first cold-turkey SI OC I have, in the sense that she's not a reincarnation—she's just been shoved into this, so it'll take her some time to get used to everything, especially considering that she's having issues with her memory and is not exactly in her own body. She got aged down like eight years and is so out of shape, so she'll be struggling for a bit.
> 
> Moving on from there, I'd live to give a shout out to **kurobook** , **Plouton** , **UnstableFable** , and **Evanescentfacade** for helping me out with this fic! And I'm pretty sure they all have me to thank, for the reason I dragged them into playing KHUX. Ahahaha, I'm the leader of our party in the Union Unicornis, in case anyone wants to know. But that's enough about me!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed the story so far. We're just getting started! So until next time, everyone!


	2. Welcome to Daybreak Town

Watching Noa stumble makes Chirithy think twice about what made her a perfect candidate for the Keyblade. Sure, she has a lot of room to grow like any other newcomer—but that doesn’t make them feel any less concerned when they watch her struggle with her Keyblade. She handles it so awkwardly, treating it like a blunt weapon instead of an actual sword. Starlight is nearly half her size (she’s _so_ **short** ), which makes it difficult for her to maintain her balance each time she swings it.

By now, Chirithy knows that that their wielder has little to no experience handling a weapon. It’s a little disheartening, in the sense that Chirithy had been hoping for someone not so… _green_.

“Oh god, I think I’m gonna be sick…” Both figuratively and literally—oh, there she goes. “Huurrkk!!”

Chirithy sighs as they watch their wielder double over onto the cobblestone and empty whatever contents they had in their stomach onto the ground. They suppose it’s a natural reaction to stress and undergoing such strenuous physical activity—especially from someone so out of shape.

“We need to work on your endurance…” Chirithy earns an annoyed groan from Noa as a response. “And also work on the way you handle your Keyblade.”

Noa wipes her mouth using the back of her hand. She sounds so out of breath, practically gasping for air. Beads of sweat are trickling down the sides of her face. Her long hair does nothing to help, with the way it continues to get in her face.

Chirithy stares at Noa for a minute and then promptly nods their head. “Otherwise, you’re doing fine.”

It’s not as bad as it could be, anyways. Chirithy has heard worse in the form of stories coming from the mouth of the most experienced veterans when they talk about their first days wielding a Keyblade. It’s something that they can laugh at, but Chirithy doesn’t find themself laughing right now—unlike those veterans, this is the present, not the past. Maybe in the future, this will become a memory that Noa will laugh at…but not now, when she’s so terrified and out of shape.

“Are there any health issues that you might have?” It’s a simple question, one that Chirithy should have probably asked before setting Noa loose on the Heartless in the area. It is crucial information that they need to know for the near future. “You don’t have to answer that immediately—take your time.”

Talking is a lot harder than Noa expects it to be. She tries more than once to say something, but her need to breathe outweighs her desire to speak. It’s hard to breathe right now. The fact that she finds this situation of hers familiar is rather alarming. When she does manage to speak, she’s trembling so hard that her voice comes out shaky.

“I-I th-think…I h-have asthma,” she says between pants. “Is tha—is that fine?”

She feels lightheaded and heavy and wants nothing more right now than to sleep for a week. Sweat is trickling down her back in the most uncomfortable of ways and she considers herself lucky that her sweat has yet to soak through her clothes. It is quite strange, though, but Noa doesn’t think too much about it. She just continues struggling to catch her breath.

“Hmm…it’s fine.” Chirithy honestly doesn’t mind. It’s just something that they’ll have to keep in mind from here on out. “Later on, we’ll make a trip to the hospital to get you checked out.”

For now, Chirithy opens the pouch around their neck and pulls out a canteen filled with water. They hand the canteen over to Noa and tell her to take small sips. Noa has a long ways to go before she can catch up to the other wielders, but Chirithy feels that this is a good start as any in pushing her in the right direction.

Chirithy spends the next hour guiding Noa through her battles with the Heartless that respawn. Chirithy calls them Shadows, which are some of the weakest of the Heartless in existence ( _there’s **more**?!_ ). Noa doesn’t know whether she should find it funny or sad that she struggles so much against such a weak creature.

_I guess even the weakest of creatures can still pack a punch!_

Left to right, right to left—Noa’s swings her Keyblade at the Shadow Heartless. Every so often, she raises her Keyblade and bashes a lone Shadow on the head. It somewhat disturbs her with how easily a smile forms on her face when she watches the ink-black creatures dissolve into puffs of smoke. She takes a small break to wipe away the sweat that gets into her eyes. All this fighting is making her feel gross…

“Hey—there’s no time for breaks!” Chirithy frantically exclaims, jumping up and down in their attempts to catch Noa’s attention. “You gotta stay on task—watch out!!”

It happens far too quickly for Noa to even react. Sharp, red-tipped claws rake across her face, causing her to cry out loudly in pain. Tears prick her eyes as an overwhelming stinging sensations spreads across her face. It burns—it burns, _it burns, it burns, IT BU **RNS, IT BURNSBURNSBURNSBURNSBURNS!**_

_Ow, ow, ow, **ow**!_

It feels uncomfortably hot—almost suffocating, even. The pain makes it hard to breathe for a moment, as does the uncontrollable urge to throw up. It’s hard to keep her eyes open, when they’re shut so tight. It just _hurts_ so **much**!

_Hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts, it hurtsithurts **ithurtsithurtsithurts**!!_

Tears stream down her cheeks as she stares at the creature before her. Her breathing has become irregular and her body is trembling so hard. She is surprised that she still has such a tight grip on her Keyblade—but for how long? She doesn’t know, but she doesn’t want to take her chances against…whatever that _thing_ is!

It has the same yellows eyes as a Shadow, but has a more colorful appearance. It’s blue and purple, with black feet and sharp, red-tipped claws. It wears a silver knight’s helmet and has a toothy maw. It moves similarly to a Shadow Heartless, though without silence as each movement it makes has the sound of clattering metal. Unlike the Shadow Heartless, however, it carried a strange emblem on its body resembling that of a heart with an X with thorns across it.

_Clang! Clack!_

It is also stands at a height far taller than a Shadow’s, in fact—it’s almost close to hers.

_Holy **shit** …_

“Soldier Heartless are a bit stronger than Shadow Heartless!!” Chirithy quickly informs her. “Be careful, Noa!”

Right…be careful…yeah, that’s easy for her to do, never mind the fact that her face feels like it’s on fire. But hey—details.

 _“Okay—okay…I can do this…”_ Noa swallows hard and raises her Keyblade. _“It’s just one…what?!”_

Well, it _was_ one...and then more appeared, surrounding the one that had attacked her. It stares at her, its toothy maw making it appear as though it’s laughing at her. The clattering of metal is all she hears now that there are more of them. She almost doesn’t hear what Chirithy has to say.

“They often appear in numbers!!” Chirithy adds a bit too late.

Noa snorts, resisting the urge to laugh. She is _sooo_ fucked and she’s quite sure Chirithy knows it, too…but something inside of her—what it is, she doesn’t know—tells her not to give up. That she has to _at least_ **try**. And dammit, she **_really_** wants to try.

_I don’t want to die._

For all that has happened to her, to which she has not many answers for, she at least knows one thing with such confidence—Noa wants to live. She wants to live and she’ll do just about anything to stay alive right now. If she has to fight for it—so be it.

_At least I’m not alone._

She has Chirithy and though they usually stay out of harm’s way, their moral support is not at all unwanted. She appreciates it with all fiber of her being, because without them, she _knows_ she’d just be a crying mess—even more so than she already is. She inhales deeply and then exhales, tightening her grip on her Keyblade as she positions it. It still feels awkward the way she handles it, but it’s a good start as any for the moment.

_I can fix it later._

She clenches her teeth and then yells out loud, charging forward towards the group of Soldier Heartless. The first thing she feels is pain when sharp claws slash across her stomach. She hears fabric rip and feels the air on her exposed skin. It hurts…it really _hurts_. But she can’t stop now, not even when more sharp claws strike her from all over.

She swings the Keyblade all over the place, even taking a moment to hold it out as spin in a circle. The blunt blade makes direct contact with the Soldier’s sides, knocking them off balance. For some, it knocks them into each other, which makes a loud noise when metal comes in contact with metal. The loud clanging makes flinch violently and her ears ring.

_That’s right!_

She remembers now—that she never liked loud noises. She remembers a little too late, though, as she tries so desperately to get rid of the ringing in her ears by shaking her head vigorously. It’s an action she regrets instantly when she feels those same sharp claws from before start to dig into her chest.

_Fuck!_

“Son of a bitch!” Noa kicks the Soldier Heartless as far away from her as possible. She back kicks another one that’s behind her and then swings her Keyblade around in a counterclockwise motion to get rid of the rest of the Heartless that are within her vicinity. A tingling sensation begins to spread through her body afterwards, ultimately accumulating in her fingertips. _“What the hell?!”_

It feels strange and somewhat bothersome—she _wants_ it to go away…like right now. She clenches her teeth and swings her arms downwards quite forcefully in her attempts to shake away the feeling, stomping one foot for a good measure. Two lights circle around her torso quite briefly. Then energy expels from her body, shooting outwards in various directions like lightning.

The energy crackles against her skin, though it is not unpleasant—just very, very strange. Otherwise, it is quite harmless…to her, at the very least. Any Heartless caught within the dome of energy that circles around her react quite negatively towards it. Most don’t survive, clouds of purple smoke denoting their demise. Those that do, remain in a dazed state, just wobbling in place.

“What…was that…?” Noa stares wide-eyed at the scene before her. Her face stings a bit from the facial movements of her expression, the pain only increasing when sweat drips over the shallow claw marks on her face.

“Don’t question it—just take them out!” Chirithy shouts. They’ve had enough of watching Noa get hurt because the Heartless keep catching her off-guard. Wielders are most vulnerable during the first few hours that they’ve been given their Keyblade for various reasons, of which includes distraction by confusion. “They’re completely open for any attack—go!!”

It takes Noa a few seconds to react, but she eventually does as she is told. She experiments a bit this time with her swings, as means of venting her frustration. She starts swinging diagonally, slashing through one Heartless at a time. Vertically, horizontally—whatever pops into her head at the moment, she continues swinging until all the Heartless are gone. What they leave behind is the same star-like particles of light that she’s been finding so far. They always show up whenever she exterminates a Heartless and they always disappear whenever she gets too close to them.

Her body glows for a brief moment, all the star-like particles disappearing within her presence. She sighs loudly and allows herself to collapse onto her knees after moving her sweat-drenched hair out of her face. She is exhausted, sweaty, and very much in _pain_. She can get through it, if only because of her intense desire to not die, but for the most part, now that the danger has passed, she finds that she can barely manage anymore.

She wants to cry—she _really_ wants to cry. But then Chirithy goes to her side and pats her gently on her lap.

“You did a good job, Noa,” they say, sounding very proud.

Noa stares at Chirithy, tears welling up in her eyes. She sniffs, feeling very emotional. “Th-Thank you…”

All it takes is another gentle pat from Chirithy to set her off. The warmth from their action makes her cry loud and hard, sobs wracking her body. Tears stream down her cheeks, falling into her lap. The claw marks still hurt—they _really_ hurt…

_But I’m alive._

And she is not alone.

_I’m not alone._

Chirithy has no idea how to react to their wielder crying so hard. They’re predictably concern, so they try their best to stay calm. They recall hearing some veteran wielders laughing at how damn emotional they were at times during the days when they were much more inexperienced and still new to handling a Keyblade.

 _“She doesn’t seem sad…”_ Chirithy thinks to themself. Noa seems more relieved than anything, so that should be a good thing…right? _“Maybe I should ask Chirithy…”_

Chirithy isn’t the only one of their kind—every wielder has a Chirithy. Some have names, ones that they either choose, or are given by others. Some have appearances that come in different variations. Chirithy’s fur is a common gray color, though of a lighter hue compared to others. Their figure is pudgier than most, but it’s nothing that particularly bothers them.

What Chirithy all have in common is the task that they are given to support their wielders. How they do it isn’t important—to some, it is, but for the most part, that’s just the way things are.

 _“I wonder what will become of the two of us…”_ Chirithy looks at their wielder in wonder. First impressions are everything, from what they’ve been told by the other Chirithy. But for this wielder of theirs…they can turn the other cheek.

Minutes pass and soon, Noa’s heaving sobs turn into quiet hiccups. Chirithy reassuringly pats her lap a few times. This time, she places her hand over theirs and gives them the widest smile she can make on such a short notice. Chirithy stares for a few seconds before nodding their head.

“You okay?” Chirithy knows that it isn’t the best question to ask, but it’s all they can think of.

“K-Kinda!” Laughter bubbles in Noa’s throat as she places a hand on Chirithy’s head and starts petting their soft fur. She feels a lot less terrified now, and she continues to feel that way even more when she hears what sounds like _purring_ coming from Chirithy. _“Ahh!!”_

There is something about the idea of Chirithy acting like an actual cat that makes her feel extremely giddy. Her face heats up with a blush when Chirithy leans into her touch, showing their appreciation for her affection. She might have been expecting cat puns from the living cat plush or at least a verbal tic of some sort. But this—this is fine.

They both stay like this on the cobblestone for five minutes, neither feeling a particular need to move just yet. Afterwards, Noa gets up, deciding that she’s had enough of doing nothing. She’s not sure when more Heartless will show up, so she has to be prepared…but before that—

“What was that thing I did earlier?” Noa’s been wondering about the energy she expelled from her body. There has to be an explanation and Chirithy knows more than she knows.

“That’s Stun Impact—energy is gathered and is used to create an explosive sphere that can stun nearby enemies.” Chirithy hopes their answer is sufficient enough for Noa and not too hard to comprehend. “You seem to be more magic inherent to tap into that ability so quickly.”

Noa blinks twice. “Really?”

“It’s a possibility—sometimes it’s a random ability that pops up in inexperienced wielders such as yourself.” It’s a defense mechanism of sorts that has its uses inside and outside of battle. “It’s the best thing you have to defend yourself when you’re swarmed.”

Chirithy has seen other wielders make use of it whenever they’re swarmed by weaker Heartless. There’s a more powerful variation of the ability, but that requires the use of Medals. But Noa has a long ways to go before she can tap into that ability. For now, she needs more practice and experience so she can start using Medals.

“You ready?” Chirithy asks upon seeing Noa stretch out her arms.

“For what?” she wants to ask, but decides not to. Instead, she continues stretching out her body until she feels completely satisfied with her impromptu and belated warm-up. She has a feeling that her body will be quite sore later on, so she might as well make the most of what she has now before the pain starts to make itself apparent. She fixes her hair so that it’s not in her face, deciding that one of her top priorities is to get a hair tie. “Ready—whoa!”

All too suddenly, the ground starts to quake beneath their feet. It catches Noa completely by surprise, causing her to lose her balance and drop her Keyblade.

_Thud!_

She falls onto cobblestone, wincing in pain from rough landing. Her Keyblade clatters against the ground just a few feet away from her. She lifts her face, taking a moment to get a hold of her surroundings and figure out where her Keyblade landed. It is during this that she notices something peculiar on the ground.

 _“My shadow…”_ It should be under her…right? _“Then why is it…?”_

Her shadow is stretched across the cobblestone, looking far larger than it should be under this particular lighting. It is something that concerns Chirithy, who hops over to her side and starts to tug at her hood.

“G-Get up!” they say urgently. “We need to get out of here!”

This isn’t supposed to be happening— _not yet_!

“Noa, hurry!!” They have never felt so terrified to look at a person’s shadow. Of course, they have every reason to be frightened when the shadow pulls itself out of the ground. Its form changes shape and size within a matter of seconds.

It looks nothing like Noa’s shadow anymore, taking on the appearance of a gigantic ink-black humanoid creature. It has a more masculine appearance, with a muscular build and short legs. There is giant heart-shaped hole in its abdominal area from which one can see through it. Two small, twisted wings pop out of its back. Its face is covered in dozens of twisted black tentacles, bright yellow eyes staring down at Noa and Chirithy.

Noa swallows hard. “Is that…?”

“It’s a Darkside—it’s much stronger than the Heartless you’ve taken on!” Chirithy continues to tug at Noa’s hood. They don’t like the way the Darkside is staring at them. This isn’t the first time that they’ve seen one—they pop up at a regular basis, typically confined within an area for everyone else’s safety…so long as they are _out of **range**_. “You’re not ready to take it on alone!! You gotta get up!”

“H-Hold on!” Noa can’t leave her Keyblade behind, so she scrambles over to it and grabs it. She stands up afterwards and turns to run. She barely misses the Darkside’s enormous fist as it slams into the ground. “Waugh!”

_Thud!_

Noa falls again for a second time, yelping in pain when she lands onto the cobblestone just as roughly as before. She appreciates the gloves that she’s wearing, for protecting the palms of her hands. It’s less pain she has to feel as she rolls onto her back and sits up to look at her throbbing knee.

 _“Yeah, that’s **definitely** gonna bruise!”_ she thinks after giving her knee a small poke and feeling intense pain in response. _Shit_ —she wants to cry, she **really** wants to cry. _“Ow, ow, ow, **ow**!!”_

That _really_ fucking **hurts**!!

“Noa—the Darkside!!” Chirithy brings Noa’s attention back on the Heartless behind her.

Suddenly, her knee doesn’t hurt as much when notices that the Darkside’s fist is still so close to her. Noa immediately scuttles backwards, almost falling back a few times. It’s somewhat awkward, because of how she has to do that with a Keyblade in her hand. But her desire to survive overturns everything else that she’s feeling right now. Even if it _does_ get on her nerves with how damn inconvenient it is…

The Darkside raises its fist off the ground, staring at Noa and Chirithy for a moment before reaching out for the two of them. Noa cannot seem to get up that fast, so she holds up her Keyblade in an attempt to defend herself and Chirithy. She never has to, however.

In a flash of light, the masked man from earlier appears, blocking off the Darkside’s fist with a Keyblade of his own. His Keyblade has a far more ostentatious design than Noa’s and is definitely longer than hers is.

It might even be taller than she is, she depressingly thinks as a pout crosses her face. Not the best thing she should be thinking, considering the matters at stake (like her freaking _life_ ). But hey, what can she do? She is in dire need of a distraction from how fucking _terrified_ she is.

“Master Ira!” Chirithy calls out.

 _“Master…Ira?”_ Noa furrows her brow. Who—wait… _“Is that his name?”_

Noa looks at the young man wearing a unicorn mask. He responds to Chirithy, saying something that Noa doesn’t particularly catch. She’s never been good at listening at times. Like, she can hear, she just…doesn’t always get everything the first time through. She misses one thing and suddenly, she doesn’t know what people are talking about—like now.

_Fuck._

All she can do is force a smile when the masked man, Ira, looks in her direction. He stares at her for a moment and then nods his head once before extending a hand towards her. It takes Noa a few seconds to realize what Ira is doing. She sputters, her face turning red as she grabs his hand. Ira helps her off the ground, releasing her hand only when she’s standing. Then he promptly turns his attention back on the Darkside, his Keyblade poised for battle.

“This is Master Ira—the Foreteller of the Union Unicornis,” Chirithy tells Noa, gesturing at Ira. “Like you, he also wields the Keyblade.”

At a completely different level from hers, Chirithy all but says. Noa doesn’t need to hear it, though, because she can tell that Ira is far more experience from the way he effortlessly fights on the Darkside. Her eyes widen in awe when she sees him jump high into the air.

“Whoa…” She never thought it was possible for anyone to jump _that_ high. There’s a first for everything, she guesses.

“Keep practicing every day and maybe you’ll be capable of doing that as well.” Chirithy hopes that it’ll help motivate Noa. She’s doing great so far for a newcomer, but she has so much more to learn.

“R-Really?” Noa looks at Chirithy in disbelief. She can’t tell if they’re being serious or just messing with her.

Chirithy resists the urge to chuckle. Instead, they just nod their head and say, “Yes.”

“Awesome!” Noa’s hands are balled up into fists, her body shaking because she is just so _happy_. She turns her attention back on Ira and the Darkside, her smile growing wider and wider the longer she watches the battle. It makes the injury on her face hurt, but at this point, the pain has become bearable (that’s probably the adrenaline helping, which is totally _not_ a good thing).

Suddenly, Ira disappears mid-battle.

“Huh?” A bead of sweat rolls down the side of Noa’s face. That…came out of nowhere. _“Where…?”_

It takes Noa almost a minute to realize that Ira is standing right by her side. She does a double take when she finally notices him out of the corner of her eye and holy fuck, is he _tall_.

_Holy fuck—how tall **is** he?!_

Noa sure doesn’t know, but she feels even shorter than she already is just standing next to Ira. This…might become a common occurrence with her current form. Her expression goes blank at the mere thought of this.

“You are on your way to tapping into the power of the Keyblade,” Ira says, his gaze focused on Noa. He sounds especially calm, despite the fact that the Darkside is still _alive_. “Soon, lesser Heartless won’t stand a chance against you.”

Wow…that is actually validating, Noa immediately finds. She really appreciates the comment, for making her feel happy.

“However…” Aaaaaaand there goes her happiness, into the vengeful clutches of anxiety (this is _why_ she can’t have nice things…). “In order to defeat stronger foes…”

Ira turns Noa’s attention back on the Darkside. He gestures at it, looking as calm as ever, despite the fact that the Darkside is about ready to attack them. Of course, before the Darkside can bring down its raised hand upon them, a girl with blonde hair and brown skin blocks the attack with a Starlight Keyblade of her own. She has a serious expression on her face, dark blue eyes staring sternly at the Darkside before her as she stands in front of Ira and Noa.

“You must combine your strength with those who share your purpose and aspirations,” Ira continues.

“Alicia here, reporting for duty, Master Ira!” The girl exclaims, taking a moment to look over her shoulder at Noa to smile at her. “It’s nice to meet you!”

“U-Uh…l-likewise.” Noa doesn’t…know what to make of the new girl. She’s never been good at talking to new people—with the exception of Chirithy, who isn’t exactly human.

“I’m Marco!” Noa nearly shrieks when a pale-skinned boy with dark, brown hair _literally_ gets in her face. He has to bend down slightly so that he can make direct eye contact with Noa, being taller than she is. He smiles at her and gives her a couple of pats on the head. He laughs after narrowly dodging a punch that Noa throws at him. “Sorry, sorry!”

“You need to stop doing that to newbies!” A short-haired boy with gray eyes lightly tugs on Marco’s ponytail. He is just as pale as Marco is, though he is somewhat shorter than he is and wears blue and black clothes instead of yellow and black. “I’m Wade.”

Noa bites her lip and stays silent. She really has no idea what to make of the new kids. They are not that much older than she is (physically, at the least), though like her, they all wield a Keyblade. They don’t stick around to talk much after their introductions, considering that they still have a Heartless to defeat.

They’re not as skilled nor experienced as Ira is, but they’re still doing a better job at fighting than Noa has been doing in the past hour. She feels somewhat envious, but then she recalls Chirithy’s words.

_One day…_

Until then, Noa has a lot of practicing to do.

_Ugh…_

Soon, another wielder drops by. It’s another girl, with pale skin and light purple hair. She wears an outfit similar to Noa, differing only in color, which is blue. She says only one thing to Noa before running off to join the others.

“Sumire,” she says.

It doesn’t take Noa long to figure out that that’s the purple-haired girl’s name. It’s a nice name…

 _“I wish I can remember mine…”_ Noa frowns.

Two more kids show up after that—a pair of fraternal twins with pink hair. Their skin is tan like Noa’s, though their eyes are an icy blue. They give her a quick greeting and introduce themselves simultaneously. The boy is named Justin and the girl is named Rosalia. Rosalia is the older twin, but Justin is taller. They’re an energetic duo that gets along quite nicely with the other kids. They talk to each other with a lot of familiarity, as though they are good friends.

_They probably **are** friends…_

“Your friends will become your power, just it has for them.” Ha, friends—right. She _totally_ has those…

_Do I?_

…

…                                                               

Well, right now she doesn’t. That can change, though…once she manages to stop being awkward and start being social.

_Ahahaha, I am **so** boned!_

Noa laughs hollowly as she watches the other kids fight with the Darkside. She’s paying especially close attention to how they fight because _dammit_ —she **needs** a reference. She won’t improve otherwise. It’s a lot like drawing…

_Except I don’t actually feel like dying._

Yeah, she _definitely_ doesn’t want to die.

“Excuse me for a moment!” Oh, there’s Marco again, practically scaring the crap out of her with his sudden appearances right by her—what the heck is he doing? “I’d like to apologize in advance for what I’m about to do, but you need the experience from this.”

Noa barely has time to react when Marco suddenly lifts her off the ground with such ease (she’s not exactly the lightest person around, being overweight and whatnot). He gives her a reassuring smile before promptly _hurling_ her into the air in the direction of the Darkside.

“Aaaaugh!!” Noa is absolutely appalled over Marco’s sudden actions. She is also quite horrified with how _physically_ strong he is—that is _not_ normal! The dude is a _stick_ —a tall, lanky stick that should _not_ be able to do that! “Ooph!”

_Thud!_

Too bad he can.

“Owww…” Aaaugh, her stomach…there are things people should _not_ have to go through! Getting hit in the stomach is one of those things! Tears stream down her cheeks as she tries her best to manage through the pain. It is during this that she slowly comes to a realization about her current position. There is something awkward about the way she’s on something so…firm. It’s not completely solid and it feels almost… _cold_. _“Wait…is this—what I think it is?”_

She recognizes this feeling—back when she was there, on the stained-glass floor! The darkness that had her in its clutches for a brief amount of time—she still remembers how it feels. And right now, what she’s on—it feels like that.

_Oh god—oh god, **NO**._

Noa swallows hard and with some reluctance, she looks to her left. A strangled whimper escapes her lips as she gets a good look at the Darkside from _such a close distance_. Oh god, she’s **_on_** _its shoulder_!

_Goddammit, Marco!_

She is going to _kill_ him when this is all over—assuming she actually lives through this.

_Please let me live!!_

“Noa!!” Chirithy calls out to her. “The eyes—the eyes are its weak point!! Hit it there while its stunned!”

 _“Stunned…?”_ Noa furrows her brows. Now that Chirithy has mentioned it, the Darkside hasn’t been moving much—just standing there in place. Is it actually stunned?

“We took out its points to stun it for you!” Wade shouts. “You had a little bad luck in getting a rather strong Darkside!”

“A little?” she shrieks.

Alicia rolls her eyes and sighs. “Just whack it in the face a few times, kid—it should go down after that.”

“Ahh, but what if she falls?” Sumire asks, taking note of how high up Noa is.

“I’ll catch her!!” Marco’s laughter feels rather inappropriate for a situation that demands seriousness. “It’s my fault she’s up there.”

“You’re damn right it’s your fault.” Justin honestly can’t believe the things Marco will do without even thinking twice about it. One of these days, it’s going to land him in hot water…

“Just take it out!” Rosalia wants nothing more than for the Darkside to go down already. It’s survived long enough as is, because it’s just as Wade said—Noa had the unfortunate luck of attracting a rather strong Darkside.

_Okay, I just…gotta hit it in the face._

It’s easier said than done, because Noa quickly realizes how high up in the air she is and oh boy, is that fear of falling hitting her _hard_!

_Lovely…_

She laughs nervously as she attempts to pull herself up. The lower half of her body is currently dangling off the edge of the Darkside’s shoulder and she is _not_ comfortable with that (she’s not comfortable with anything that has happened in the past hour). Of course, she’s not comfortable with how close she is to the Heartless right now, either.

_But I guess we can’t always have what we want._

It sucks—it really, **_really_** sucks. So Noa decides to channel all of her anger and frustration into the thought of beating the shit out of Darkside’s face. It does wonders in motivating her to move faster. She’s panting by the time she gets up and stands on two feet. It took a lot of upper body strength, which she _so_ does not have. She takes a moment to fix her hair so that it isn’t in her eyes (she _really_ needs to get a hair tie soon, because this long hair is **_ridiculous_** ).

She exhales shakily as she raises up her Keyblade. Her legs feel as though they’ll give out on her at any second, with the way they’re shaking so much. She swallows the hard lump that formed in her throat while staring at the Darkside’s eyes.

_Okay—I can do this!_

She just…needs to _jump_!

“Waaaaaugh!” Noa yells out as she leaps into the air and swings her Keyblade into the Darkside’s eyes. Her stomach churns at the sight of her Keyblade cutting into the creature’s eyes. There is just something so grotesque about the sight. Fortunately, it doesn’t last long. Within a matter of seconds, the gigantic Heartless meets the same fate as those before it—it dissipates into a large cloud of smoke.

The only downside is that gravity still exists and down Noa goes, now that the Darkside is gone. She screams as she falls downward, not paying much attention to the bright flash of light that signals the disappearance of her Keyblade. Her body glows upon coming in contact with the star-like particles of light that appeared after the Darkside’s demise. She is only fortunate that Marco keeps his word and does in fact catch her before she hits the ground.

It still does nothing to take away from the sheer horror she feels from the fall. It takes every ounce of willpower to keep herself from punching Marco in the face when he starts to laugh. It pisses her off with how easily he can laugh, while she’s trying her hardest to _not_ cry. She’s done enough crying for one day, and she’ll be damned if she lets herself do that now—at least in front of _these_ guys.

She stands stiffly in front of Marco after he sets her down, moving only when he tries to pat her head. She smacks his hand away and quickly runs behind Ira. A small bead of sweat rolls down the side of Ira’s face. He…hadn’t expected that. If he were to be quit hones, he hadn’t expected today to go the way it did. Though, it’s nothing he can’t handle—he just acknowledges today as an anomaly compared to the usual norm.

 _“It can’t be helped.”_ Ira claps twice and in a bright light, a golden, circular band appears in his hands. It’s a circlet, though where there should be a jewel is an empty oval-shaped indentation. He turns around to face Noa and, very calmly, he says, “Don’t move.”

The command has Noa confused, since it comes completely out of nowhere, but she does as she’s told. This allows for Ira to place the circlet on her head without any issues. At first, it fits Noa big, but then it quickly adjusts itself so that it fits her head just right—neither too tightly nor too loose.

_How in the…?_

Ira taps the empty indentation on the circlet where a jewel should be. On the fourth tap, a bright light flashes and blinds Noa momentarily. When the light wanes and her eyes recover, she feels a slight weight on her forehead. The indentation on the circlet is no longer empty, as it now holds a red jewel.

“This will protect you far better than the spell I initially casted on you,” Ira explains. “Only when you are strong enough, will you be able to remove it. You may now move.”

After Ira walks away from her, Noa’s first reaction is to actually _try_ to take off the circlet. She’s curious to see if what Ira told her is correct. And it is, because when Noa tries to remove the circlet, it won’t budge at all. It’s almost as though some force is keeping it in place.

“Don’t you just love magic?” Marco, for a third time, scares the absolute crap out of Noa. She shrieks loudly over how close the boy had gotten to her. “Ahaha, sorry!”

“We’re gonna need to put a bell on you at this rate…” Alicia pinches the bridge of her nose.

Rosalia laughs. “Don’t mind Marco—he’s always excited to meet a new keykid.”

Noa wishes he wasn’t, because he keeps invading her personal bubble. She’s not in any mood to tolerate that at all. She fidgets with her circlet and pouts over the fact that she can’t remove it—because it means she’s not strong at all.

_Oh well…_

Noa sighs and decides that it can’t be helped—she did just get shoved into this. There is so much she doesn’t know, like what exactly happened to her. Because she doesn’t know why she can’t remember her own name, nor why she’s so young again. She also doesn’t know why she finds things so familiar…

_Is that?_

It takes Noa a few seconds to realize that Alicia is wearing a circlet as well. She didn’t pay much attention to it the first time, but it’s there…and has a rather elegant design. There is a red jewel on it that, unbeknownst to her, matches the one she has. She blinks once and then looks around, feeling rather curious. She spots an identical jewel pinned in Sumire’s hair and another in Rosalia’s.

“We all have one, if that’s what you want to know,” Marco says as he pulls off his hair tie, letting his hair fall to his shoulders. He holds out the hair tie for Noa to see and she finds that, attached to the hair tie (which is more of a scrunchie) is a red jewel.

“When you’re strong enough, you’ll be able to pull out the jewel as well and accessorize with it.” Justin points to the headbands he and Wade wear in their short hair.

“Just make sure it stays on your head, because that’s the placement for Unicornis,” Rosalia says matter-of-factly.

_The placement for Unicornis…?_

Marco laughs at the expression Noa makes, taking a moment to ruffle her hair. He laughs even harder when he dodges a punch from her. “I like you! Let’s be friends!”

Noa sputters, her face turning red from embarrassment. That’s just—that’s not how it works!! How the heck can he do that so easily??

_Oh god, is he an extrovert?_

If he is, then it would explain why she—an introvert—feels so damn _exhausted_ from just being around him.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to—we did just meet!” Marco rubs the back of his head. “But if you ever need any help, I’m your guy—uhh…”

“N-Noa…I’m Noa.” Noa realizes she hasn’t told any of them her name until now. Her face turns even redder when everyone starts to greet her, using her name to do so. She feels happy, but at the same time, so overwhelmingly nervous. She’s not used to being around new people—Chirithy, again, is an exception and Chirithy isn’t exactly human.

Speaking of Chirithy… “Hey, hey—I think that’s enough for one day. Let her settle in.”

After a few quick apologies, the kids give Noa her well-deserved space. She inwardly sighs in relief and makes a mental note to thank Chirithy later for that. For now, all attention seems to have shifted to Ira, who looks as though he has something to say.

When Ira feels he has everyone’s attention, he starts to speak. “As you’ve all been informed, the darkness is spreading. You have all bene tasked to use the power of the Keyblade to get rid of it and collect light in order to save the world.”

Ira conjures up a transparent image of a star-like particle of light that Noa has seen appear after defeating a Heartless.

“This is Lux—the light that you will be collecting,” Ira explains. “The more you collect, the stronger you will become. The jewels you each wear keep track of your growth and provide assistance in collecting Lux. It will also protect you from harm.”

 _“So that’s why…”_ Noa touches the jewel on her circlet. It feels cool and smooth… _“Nice.”_

Ira dismisses the transparent image of Lux and continues speaking. “There are others who collect the light, but not all of them share the same goal of bringing peace to the world. You must discover who amongst us walks the path of darkness.”

There is something so serious about the tone in Ira’s voice that makes Noa shudder. It’s an ominous comment, too, that makes her feel rather anxious.

“That is all for now, so you are dismissed.” A strange portal of light appears behind Ira. He turns around and walks into it, disappearing within a matter of seconds. The portal vanishes right after.

Noa places her hand over her chest. She really _hates_ how anxious she feels, with how her heart is beating so fast within her chest. It’ll pass—it always does, but she still hates it. The others stick around her for a few more minutes, just welcoming her and congratulating her on a job well done. She gets told that she’s good for a newbie, which she’ll take as a compliment.

They leave after that, saying that they have a lot of work to do and Lux to collect.

“We’ll be seeing you!” Marco says as he waves at Noa. “Take care in the meantime!”

Noa waves awkwardly as watches her new acquaintances disappear into the distance. Afterwards, she looks around the area again. The place…looks a lot calmer, now. Chirithy no longer urges her to stay alert and in fact, encourages her to take a breather.

“You earned it!” Chirithy happily exclaims. “When you’re done, tell me so that I can take you to the hospital.”

Noa can only nod her head as she lets herself sit down at the fountain. The sound of the falling water behind her sounds rather nice and calming. She smiles and looks up at the sky. It only occurs to her now that she never really looked at the sky at all since she arrived.

“Uhhh…Chirithy?” she looks at them.

“Hmm?” Chirithy tilts their head to the side.

“What time is it?” Noa sees a dark blue sky and glittering stars. She also sees wispy purple clouds with splashes of pink here and there. Part of the sky is a mix of light pink and orange—a lot like how the sky looks during sunset, except…it looks more as though the sun is starting to rise.

“Well, it’s getting kinda late,” Chirithy replies. “The sky’ll start getting darker, so we should probably head to the hospital now.”

“I-I see…” Well, _that’s_ …something.

“As a heads-up, the sky always looks like some variation of dawn,” Chirithy explains. “The brighter the sky is and the less stars you see, the earlier the day is. The more stars you see and the darker the sky is, the later it is. Right now, we’re approaching night…understand?”

“Yeah, I think I get it now…” It’s weird, but supposes she’s seen weirder with the Heartless. At least she doesn’t have to worry about the sky trying to kill her… “So about that hospital?”

“Just follow me!” Chirithy beckons Noa, waiting for her to stand up before walking off. “Afterwards, I’ll take you to an inn. We’ll figure out your rooming situation at the Unicornis dormitories tomorrow…is that okay with you?”

“Sure!” Whatever is easier, because Noa sure as hell doesn’t have the energy to think too much about it. She just wants to sleep…and take a shower—whichever happens first, because at this point, she doesn’t care.

…

…

The hospital blends in quite well with the rest of the buildings in the area. It’s not particularly tall, but is still quite large. The only way Noa knows it’s a hospital is the sign above the entrance. It’s white, with red triangles framed around the border and what’s written on it says, “Hospital.”

Noa quickly learns, upon entering the hospital, that the people working at the hospital are fellow Keyblade wielders. They each wear flowing robes with hoods that match the coloring of the sign outside—white with red triangles. There is something familiar about the sight of it as Chirithy says that those who work at the hospital wear this specific uniform.

“It helps separate patients from healers,” Chirithy explains. “The more experienced and qualified a healer is, the shorter their sleeves until you come across those who wear a variation of the uniform—they are the ones who watch over everything.”

It’s a lot to take in, but Noa finds that it’s easier when she has visuals. Upon walking over to the receptionist to check in, she finds that the receptionist is Alicia, who is accompanied by a Chirithy of her own. Unlike the Chirithy that accompanies Noa, Alicia’s resembles more of a Russian Blue and wears a nurse’s cap on their head.

Alicia is quite happy to help Noa out, taking the time to introduce her Chirithy, Ash, to Noa’s Chirithy. She explains that she works part-time as a receptionist, since it gives her something to do in-between Lux collecting missions. While Alicia talks to Noa, Chirithy and Ash have a rather animated conversation of their own.

They part ways when Noa is called in to see a healer. A glasses-wearing girl with long, wavy brown hair and light skin leads her to a room and checks her vitals. She wears a circlet with a red jewel, which means that she is also from Unicornis like Noa. She asks a few questions and then starts the healing process, which is…nothing that Noa expects. Green light radiates from the girl’s hands as she moves them over the shallow claw marks on Noa’s body. The pain slowly fades away as the claw marks begin to heal, leaving no scar behind once it finishes healing.

Noa feels a lot better afterwards. She’s still exhausted, but at least she’s not hurting anymore…though she does need to do something about the tears in her clothes.

 _“One thing at a time, Noa…”_ She can do that later. Right now, she has a healer to thank. “Thank you.”

“No problem!” the healer says with a smile. “The first day is always the hardest, but you’ll get used to it very quickly. I’m Ludivine, by the way, and if you’re ever in need of any information your Chirithy can’t give, then I’m your girl!”

“I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have money to burn,” Chirithy cautions Noa.

Ludivine laughs. “My prices are high!”

“I’ll…keep that in mind…” Noa is not even sure if she _has_ any money on her. And even if she did, she’d probably spend it on something else like food.

_Growl…_

Noa’s cheeks heat up with a blush. _“Speaking of food…”_

“I think we’re just about done here,” Chirithy speaks up. “About her medication…”

“It should be ready for pick-up tomorrow,” Ludivine says. “In the meantime, there’s something else I have for her—hold on for a moment.”

Noa nods her head and waits patiently in her seat for Ludivine to return. There’s something about that girl that seems…familiar. It’s been bugging her since she first heard the girl’s name. Honestly, a lot of things have been bugging her—Keyblades, Unions, and Chirithy, even.

_Why is it so familiar?_

Noa doesn’t know, but she figures it’ll come to her eventually. For now, she reaches out to scratch Chirithy behind their ear, laughing when she hears them purr. Chirithy is just so _cute_!!

“You know, you had a visitor earlier,” Ludivine says as she enters the room, carrying a bouquet of red and yellow tulips.

“I did?” Noa looks at Ludivine with disbelief. _“Why would I have a visitor?”_

She just got here…didn’t she?

“You did—but you _just_ missed him.” Ludivine frowns for a brief moment. She smiles when she holds out the bouquet of tulips for Noa to take. “But no matter—here you go!”

Noa accepts the bouquet of tulips, looking it over with visible confusion. _“Who got me flowers?”_

“You really had him worried when he first brought you in,” Ludivine remarks. “But you seem to be doing fine now.”

Noa furrows her brows and then looks at Chirithy for any answers.

“I’ll tell you later…” Chirithy says before turning their back to her. “For now, we should get going.”

They look over their shoulder at Noa, their gaze briefly stopping on the bouquet she holds in her hands. They look away afterwards, to laugh quietly behind their hands. There’s just something about the flowers that they find funny, what it is, Noa doesn’t know, but she supposes the flowers _are_ nice.

“Thanks again for the healing, Ludi—I can call you that, right?” Noa hopes she isn’t being too forward.

“Sure, I don’t mind!” Ludivine smiles at Noa. “I hope you have a nice evening!”

…

…

On their way out of the hospital, Noa and Chirithy stop by to check out with Alicia. Alicia goes through the process, stopping only to comment on the bouquet of tulips that Noa has.

“Who gave them to you?” Alicia asks with a smile.

“I…don’t know…” Noa just knows what she’s been told. “I was just told I had a visitor.”

“Oh, is that so…?” Alicia’s smile only widens. “That’s nice.”

Noa just shrugs. It’s not as if she has anything else to say, she’s still wondering _why_ she would have a visitor giving her flowers in the first place. For her to have a visitor would mean that she was staying at the hospital for an unknown amount of time.

**_“You really had him worried when he first brought you in.”_ **

_“Huh…”_ Noa looks at the bouquet again. She makes a face when she hears Alicia and Ash start giggling. _“What’s so funny?”_

Noa never really finds out, because Alicia just tells her, “It’s nothing.”

She stares at Alicia and Ash for a full minute before sighing and shaking her head. She decides she’s asked enough questions for one day. Right now, she just wants to eat and then sleep. She can take a shower tomorrow…

“I know this is late, but…welcome to Daybreak Town!” Chirithy tells Noa sometime after they leave the hospital.

Noa blinks a few times, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. She is _very_ happy to have Chirithy by her side. “Daybreak Town, huh…?”

So that’s the name of this place…it makes a lot of sense when she stops to think about it—a town with a sky of eternal dawn. What other name would suit such a place?

_Who knows?_

Noa sure doesn’t, but she doesn’t mind. She’s just happy that she’s not alone. She has Chirithy, as well as someone else who seems to care about her, from the way she’s been left a bouquet of tulips. Maybe she’ll come across him one day…she wants to, so she can thank him for the flowers.

_That sounds like a plan._

If she’s lucky, maybe she’ll make a friend out of him.

_Maybe._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeeey, guess who’s back with another chapter? Yo!! Anyways, I forgot to mention like last chapter, that I once said I wouldn’t be starting any _Kingdom Hearts_ fanfics until I had a PS4, and…well, I actually DID get a PS4 not long after Christmas, thanks to friend kurobook helping me out. Seriously, it’s thanks to them that I now have a PS4 to _Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue_ on, instead of having to wait a year like I did with Kingdom Hearts 1.5—because that’s how long it took before I got a PS3.
> 
> In any case, I go back to class tomorrow, so updates will either be few or more from here on out. It all depends, since I have a very bad habit of procrastinating because of fanfiction. That aside, there’s a lot of worldbuilding in this chapter and there’s a lot more of that to come, the further we get into this story. I’m a sucker for worldbuilding and shout out to **Evanescentfacade**  for co-creating the idea that is Union Jewelry with me. I have made a post about it on my tumblr, **klonoadreams** , that is accompanied by my cruddy doodles and such (feel free to look for it under the Klonoa Plays a Game tag or just ask me for it).
> 
> My _Klonoa Plays a Game_ posts **have** gotten me fanart, so I’ll probably just add the links to my Fanfiction Stuff page later. Lol, I’ve been joking as of lately that my current legacy is dragging people into KHUX hell. I’ve at least gotten a few more players into Unicornis and gotten one person to caring for their KHUX avatar the same way I care about mine.
> 
> After all, I DID drag **Evanescentfacade** , **kurobook** , **Plouton** (many thanks to them for helping me with out with Noa when it comes to injuries and exhaustion!!), and **UnstableFable** into KHUX hell (I’ve dragged at least one other person in, but I’m not exactly sure if they have a fanfic account, so…yeah). Ahaha, I’m just so amazed at what’s happened so far. It’s just funny to me.
> 
> Anyways, shout out to **kurobook** (again) for helping out with the flowers. Because I asked what kind of flowers Noa would get, and she told me, “Red and yellow tulips.” After that, she made me promise to use them if she told me their meaning, which happened to be, “Red tulips are most strongly associated with true  **love** , while the meaning of yellow tulips has evolved somewhat, from once representing hopeless love to now being a common expression for cheerful thoughts and sunshine.”
> 
> SO YEAH, that’s why Chirithy, Ash, and Alicia were laughing—by the way, do expect there to be OCs in this fic, considering KHUX is a MMO with a LOT of keykids that pop up in the game. For the most part, I’m taking the sprites of certain keykids shown in-game and giving them names, as I’ve done with the group of keykids that pop up in the tutorial. For Ludivine, however…Ludivine is **Evanescentfacade** ’s KHUX avatar, so she belongs to her. I hope I did your character right, because holy fuck, do I _need_ a rundown on her characterization again!
> 
> As for who Noa’s visitor is…I will say this: He’s not an OC. Anyways, I should also mention that Noa also has my anxiety and depression, as well as my asthma, so now Shiki from _Metamorphosis_ isn’t my only SI OC with asthma. Noa stills stands out, being the only one of my SI OCs who isn’t a reincarnation, but yeah.
> 
> If you guys ever have anything you want to ask or say, feel free to tell me in a comment!! I won’t bite—just tell me what’s on your mind if you have the time too.
> 
> Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Until next time, everyone!


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